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November 2009 Newsletter
"Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of
those who are trying to become saints. Therefore let us be extremely patient with each
other's faults and failures."
— Mother Teresa quoted in No Greater Love edited by Becky Benenate and Joseph Durepos
Dear Parents and Guardians, All Saints Catholic School
November is dedicated to remembering our dearly departed. Two important 130 Castlemore Avenue
observances are found on the first two days of the month: All Saints Day and Unionville, Ontario
All Souls day. Throughout the month of November we will remember the L6C 2P9
Saints who are role models for us. The saints are the patrons of our school.
Phone: 905-887-8780
As a faith community we will celebrate our feast day with a liturgy. Please
join us for our school mass on November 3rd at 1:15 p.m.
This month we are celebrating the virtue of JUSTICE – justice which is one Trustees:
of the virtues that Jesus demonstrated through his words and deeds. Justice Carol Cotton
is one of the building blocks in developing moral intelligence in young people.
Marlene Mogado
From a young age, children have a strong sense of what is fair. As they grow,
they develop the capacity to decipher right from wrong and to make ethical
decisions. When we join Justice with Compassion (October’s virtue) we
strongly echo the Gospel message of Jesus. Superintendent of
Education Area 2:
This theme of Justice ties in with the Catholic Graduate Expectation of a
Responsible Citizen – one who gives witness to Catholic social teaching by Andy DiSebastiano
promoting peace, justice and the sacredness of human life. Through
activities surrounding Remembrance Day and All Saints Days students will
have a chance to deepen their responsible citizenship. SHARED VISION
STATEMENT: THE YORK
We wish to express our best wishes to Mrs. James and her family. On CATHOLIC DISTRICT
October 20th Mrs. James gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Kaylene Julia ☺ SCHOOL BOARD
We are a Catholic
We are very pleased to announce that Anson Lee in Ms. Gisone’s class won Learning Community
of collaborative partners,
the Markham Fire Department poster contest. Anson will be “Chief for the called to serve one another by
Day” on Friday November 20th. being committed to and
Yours in Catholic Education, accountable for quality
learning by all, with Jesus as
Linda Ward Nicole Liberty our inspiration.
Principal Vice Principal
November 2009 Newsletter All Saints Catholic School
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY of FAITH
On October 5th twelve students from our Luke 4:18 social justice group travelled to Toronto
to participate in We Day 2009. They joined 16,000 other like minded students from
across the province at the Air Canada Centre. The focus of the day was to highlight
ways students could make a positive change in their community. Marc and Craig
Keilburger (pictured with our students Alex, Marina and Dana) were keynote speakers.
An example of the way students can make a positive impact in their community was
the recent Thanksgiving Food Drive. Thank you to our Grade 7 students who took the
lead on this project and to all families who so generously donated to this cause.
Advent begins on November 29th please look for your advent calendar which will be sent home mid-month. We
also ask that you mark Wednesday December 9th on your calendar. Please join us as we celebrate a Family
Advent mass at the parish. The mass will be held at 7:00p.m. at St. Justin Martyr Church.
Dear Parents & Guardians,
It’s hard to believe that we have been back to school for almost two months now…but, here we are.
Your 2009-2010 Catholic School Council is whole heartedly dedicated to our students’ success and to the engagement
of our parent community. Welcome to this year’s CSC members: Mrs. Panacci, Mrs. Porfirio, Mrs. Jenkins, Mrs. Tjeng,
Mrs. Douzenis, Mrs. Gyorody, Mrs. Humphreys, Mrs. Leclair, Mrs. Leong and Mrs. Perdikis. Your time and dedication
are greatly appreciated by us all.
The Catholic School Council and the many parent volunteers have already been hard at work to continue the success
of our Milk and Fun Lunch programs for the students. In the next week or so, please look for the order forms for these
programs for the winter term as they will be sent home.
Thank you very much to all the families that contributed to the annual School Fundraiser. The monies that have been
raised will go a long way to the enhancement of educational opportunities for all our students. Plans are already well
on their way for additional, exciting and community building events this year. Stay tuned! We are actively seeking a
Community Member for the Catholic School Council. If you or if you know anyone that might be interested, please
contact Ms. Ward. Our next council meeting is scheduled for Thursday November the 26th at 6:45pm. All parents are
welcome to attend.
God Bless, Gail Cheung
SAFE and CARING SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Social Networks Homework Pick-Up
If your child is absent from school and well
At York Catholic District School Board we follow best practices
enough to complete homework we ask:
when it comes to posting pictures on social networks. Parents
1) You request the homework first thing in the
sign the Freedom of Information consent form upon registering
morning (note with sibling or neighbour or
their child with our Board. This consent is specific that
call the school).
pictures only may be posted on the board’s or school’s websites. 2) Pick up the homework at the end of the
It does not include social networking sites. We caution parents school day from the office.
and staff that when taking pictures and/or videos of students
in school or on field trips that those images are not to be posted It is important that we do not interrupt the
on any social networking sites. learning of other classmates by calling into the
classroom throughout the day to make special
requests for homework pick up.
Questions about the collection and the use of this personal
information should be directed to the Privacy Manager, York A good idea is to ensure that your child has a
Catholic District School Board, 320 Bloomington Rd. W., ‘homework buddy’ that they can call when they
Aurora, Ontario L4G 0M1 or (905) 713-1211 ext. 3848. have a question/concern about homework.
November 2009 Newsletter
QUATLITY LEARNING FOR ALL
INTERMEDIATE VOLLEYBALL TEAMS
We thank all the grade seven and eight boys and girls who gave of their time and effort in coming to volleyball
tryouts, games and tournaments. We deeply appreciate your dedication and commitment to the team while keeping
up your school work. Congratulations to the following students who are representing our school for the 2009 - 2010
season: Christina, Alyssa, Victoria, Jasmine, Rachel, Amy, Danielle, Myriam, Sally, Jason, Jordan, Conor, Reid,
Sean, Nicholaus, Lucas, A.J., Lucas and Mark.
With our many thanks, Coaches: Mr. DeVries and Mr. FitzPatrick (Boys’ Team) and Mr. Coles (Girls’s team).
CROSS COUNTRY TEAM
Congratulations to the 90 Junior and Intermediate students who participated in the recent Area Cross Country meet.
The students gave up their lunch hours throughout September and October to practice. Although the day of the
meet was very cold and wet 17 of our students placed in the top five! Due to the high number of top placements our
Grade 4, 5 and 8’s won their classification and proudly brought home the finalist banners for those Grades!
The following students competed in the Board finals on October 27th Gr. 4: Amanda,Jamie, Kaitlyn, Maria, Michael
and Romy. Gr. 5: Adrianna, Alexandra, Mariah and Michael. Gr. 6: Bianca. Gr. 7: Nicholaus. Gr. 8 Brendon,
Christina, Conor, Maria and Reid.
Thank you to coaches: Ms Beaudin and Mr Dineen. The team also appreciates the assistance provided during the
training by Mrs. Gusz, Mrs. Hutzul and Mrs. Meli.
TRIBES – Community Circle
The special spirit of community doesn’t just happen in a classroom or school by having people work in small
groups, or by using randomly selected cooperative learning activities. Building community is a deliberate process
that is facilitated over a period of time. It begins by creating inclusion for every person within the learning
community and by practising the set of positive Tribes agreements which was the focus of October’s newsletter.
Students meet at various times in the circle for sharing, discussion on study topics, learning collaborative skills,
reflecting on the day/week, addressing conflicts, and celebrating. While in the circle or working as pairs or small
groups, students are encouraged to listen attentively, participate fully, show appreciation, and practice mutual
respect. The community circle process, when used effectively, can be a powerful dynamic to help build positive
relationships among students and staff.
A quote by Anne Wilson, an Ojibwe elder, helps to describe the dynamic and the value of the community circle.
“The community circle allows everyone a chance to be seen, to speak, and to be heard. Each of us has a different
way of looking at things. We can learn from each other. It’s good to listen and watch. When you watch, you see
everything. You learn to give to other people and you see different ways to deal with problems.”
FUNDRAISING UPDATE
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our recent fundraising campaign. We raised over $20,000 to support
school programs. We would like to thank the following contributors who supported our campaign with their
generous donations of prizes used in our daily raffles: Club 300 Bowling, Edge Imaging(Free Photo Package),
Halpern’s (two $50 Gift Certificates), Mabel’s Labels, Pharmasave and Second Cup. A very special thank you to
Rogers/ Fido – who donated $1,000.00. We appreciate the support of the Porfirio family who secured this donation
from Rogers/Fido on our behalf.
The prize of “Principal for the day” was won by the Stratos family. Our three new principals will take over their
duties on November 13th. The selection of special activities that the principals selected are:
Movie and popcorn
Casual dress day ie Pajamas or dressing robe (over regular clothes) or relaxed style clothes (track pants)
No homework
Indoor recess (students may switch classes and join friends in another room).
November 2009 Newsletter All Saints Catholic School
H1N1 Update for Parents
This fall is a different flu season, with both seasonal flu and H1N1 flu in our
communities. To help stop the spread of viruses in our schools, we are working
closely with our local Health Department.
Symptoms: Watch for flu symptoms including fever & cough, and one or more of the
following: sore throat, muscle ache, joint pain, and weakness. Children under five
years may vomit & have diarrhea.
What is the contagious period? It is important to stay home when someone has flu-
like symptoms. Like seasonal flu, infected people may be able to infect others
beginning one day before symptoms develop and until symptoms have resolved.
Please keep sick children home from school until they are feeling well and are able
to fully participate in all normal day-to-day activities.
Please let the school know if you are keeping your child home with flu symptoms.
This helps the school and our local Health Department keep track of how the flu is
spreading.
Emergency Contact Info: Please make sure we have your up to date emergency
contact information. This is important if your child is sick and needs to go home.
Preventing Illness: Please teach you children:
• to wash their hands with soap and water thoroughly and often.
• not to share personal items like pens, pencils drinks or food
• to cough or sneeze into their sleeve or a tissue
You can get further information about seasonal flu and H1N1 through our School
Board website at www.ycdsb.ca and by visiting our local Health Department’s
website at www.york.ca
To review other up-to-date information regarding H1N1 please visit the following
multilingual website:
http://www.toronto.ca/health/cdc/h1n1/multilingual_resources.htm
Also, please review the letter dated and sent home on October 29th . This joint correspondence from York
Region Pubic Heath and York Catholic District School Board provides detailed information regarding H1N1.
